With the introduction of implant dentistry and the associated use of small-machined parts and devices, the incidence of a practitioner accidentally dropping a device into a patient's oral cavity has increased. If the patient swallows or aspirates the device, emergency surgical intervention is often necessary, with potentially life-threatening consequences. Screwdrivers used to loosen or tighten abutments to implant fixtures pose a particular hazard, because the dentist must use one hand to both stabilize and turn the driver in the restricted and slippery environment of a patient's mouth. Existing dental isolation measures which block the back of the patient's throat, such as rubber dams and gauze throat screens, have several disadvantages, including patient discomfort and gagging response.
Various lanyard/tether systems have been proposed to mitigate these hazards. Most of these systems involve directly attaching a ligature, such as a string or dental floss, to the screwdrivers head/handle, either by tying it on or inserting it in a bore. But tying is inherently insecure, especially in the slippery environment of an oral cavity, and bores in the driver head require a specially manufactured tool. Moreover, these systems do not offer a good solution to the problem of how to restrain the driver head without interfering with its rotation. As the dentist turns the driver head, the tether wraps around the screwdriver, requiring frequent disentanglement, during which the ligature is apt to shred or detach from the tool.
In response to the entanglement issues with direct attachment ligature systems, some systems interpose a swivel mechanism between the ligature and the driver head. But this measure only further adds to the overall length and bulk of the lanyard, which increases the difficulty of retrieving the tool once it has been dropped into the oral cavity. A long tether/lanyard allows the screwdriver to fall into the throat opening, so that the tool must then be pulled out, thereby injuring the soft tissues of the throat and esophagus.
Therefore, the existing systems are flawed insofar as they merely enable the dentist to retrieve the implant screwdriver once he/she has dropped it—with the retrieval involving potentially traumatic effects. On the other hand, the present invention provides a device which prevents the dentist from losing control of the screwdriver and allowing it to drop into the patient's oral cavity.